Coronavirus Pandemic Leads to Shunning and Shaming in Small Towns

Virus vigilantes call out and report neighbors they suspect aren’t strict about social distancing or quarantine

President Trump in late March said he was extending the administration’s social-distancing guidelines for another 30 days through the end of April, after saying for days that he was hoping to open up the country in the coming weeks.

By

Douglas Belkin

LAKE FOREST, Ill.—Last week, William Zordani and his large family took their Golden Retriever, Sunshine, for a walk near their home in this leafy suburb north of Chicago as they waited out the coronavirus shutdown.

That evening, a woman who lives a few blocks away posted a photo of Mr. Zordani, his mother and five of his six siblings on their walk to the town’s Facebook news site, lambasting them for ignoring social-distancing rules and endangering the community.